


The more things change...

by GemmaRose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Galra, Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Galra Hunk (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Galra Lance (Voltron), Galra Pidge | Katie Holt, Galra Shiro (Voltron), Gen, Indigo Galra Zine, Racism, Racist Allura (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 02:58:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14865311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: The more they stay the same. No matter the circumstances of their birth, they are destined to be the Paladins of Voltron.





	The more things change...

Shiro looked down at the datapad in his shiny new prosthetic hand, reading over the information he’d been given for what must’ve been the hundredth time. It still didn’t look any better than it had the first time he read over it. Four Privates, all mixed, all fresh from basic, all packless. Three of whom were alphas. This was clearly an attempt to get him to quit, or at least stall his advancement through the ranks. He couldn’t let it deter him, though. He’d just have to make it work.

Opening the door, he strode into the small meeting room at 08:00 on the dot. Four soldiers snapped to attention, and he grinned a little as he set down his datapad, “At ease,” he said, and they relaxed somewhat. Good, at least they were properly trained. One halfie alpha in particular, he’d worried about. The base he’d come from wasn’t known for producing quality soldiers, “I understand all four of you are fresh from basic, making me your first active duty CO.”

They nodded as one, and he rested a hand on the table next to his datapad, “You may have trained at different bases, you may not know each other’s names yet,” they exchanged uneasy looks at this, probably because they _didn’t_ know each other’s names yet, “but I fully expect you to pull together and work as a team,” he continued, “My name is Sergeant Shirogane,” he pointed at the soldier on his far left, who snapped to attention.

“Private Lance, Sir.”

“Any specialisations?”

“Firearms, Sir,” Lance grinned, “Best shot in my training unit.”

Shiro nodded, and his finger moved to the one next to Lance, the halfbreed, “Private Keith, Sir,” he said stiffly, “Specialised in armed hand to hand. And infiltration,” he added, almost as an afterthought. Shiro tucked that tidbit away for later, and moved his attention to the next one.

The beta in question was shortest soldier he’d ever seen, even when xi straightened up at attention, “Private Pidge, Sir. Specialised in technology, specifically trained in communications.”

He pointed at the final soldier he’d been given, who snapped the sharpest salute of any of them, “Private Hunk, Sir. Specialized in munitions and engineering.”

Shiro nodded, and scanned over them again. Under half the size of a normal unit, and not a one trained in more than basic first aid. The Commander wasn’t trying to stall, he was trying to get him killed. He couldn’t let them know that, though. He needed them to work as a team, not panic and come apart, “Alright. As you know, the system we’re currently in is uninhabited by higher life forms but rich in resources. Our assignment for today is to go investigate the next planet in line for tapping, to make sure there’s nothing on the ground that the scanners didn’t pick up.”

“We’ll be leaving in half a varga, so go collect your gear and meet me in the main hangar bay. Understood?”

“Sir,” all four saluted, and he nodded at them. They filed out the door quickly, and once the door shut behind the last of them Shiro slumped to plant both his hands on the table. He’d been given the chance to enlist so he could rise through the ranks and acquire valuable intel, but with a team of rookies nowhere else wanted and a dead-end assignment like this... he had no choice. He was going to need to make these soldiers the most efficient team in the quadrant if he wanted any chance at continuing his mission.

\---

“Um, Shiro?” Pidge spoke hesitantly, as if unwilling to break the stony silence which had fallen over the shuttle’s cabin when he picked Keith to fly them down. He swallowed a sigh, and made a mental note that that was _another_ thing he had to work on. Right along with Keith’s temper, Lance’s attitude, and Hunk’s anxiety towards flying. Admittedly, the last of those had a logical reason behind it. Shiro wouldn’t be fond of being made to go back to where he’d lost his squad, it made sense that Hunk was wary of the ships most of his pack had died in.

“What is it, Pidge?” he asked, keeping his tone even and professional.

“I know this system is supposed to be uncivilised, but there’s an energy signature coming from the planet’s surface that doesn’t look entirely organic,” xi blew up one of xir screens, and Shiro leaned over the back of xir seat to scrutinise the data displayed there.

“Good catch,” he clapped a hand on the beta’s shoulder, “Send the co’ords to Lance.”

“Will do.”

“Keith,” he turned to the front, where the fluffy halfbreed and reptilian mixed alphas were being reluctant co-pilots, “I want you to land us as close to those coordinates as you can.”

“Yes, Sir,” Keith nodded sharply, and Shiro suppressed a sigh as the two pilots promptly started squabbling over something else. If he wanted to get anywhere with these idiots, he had a _lot_ of work to do first.

\---

Pidge tilted xir head, examining the carvings on the cliff they’d landed nearby. They were old, no doubt about that, but something about them felt strangely familiar, “Anybody else getting a weird feeling from these things?” they pointed, careful not to touch.

“Yeah, a creepy one,” Hunk muttered as Shiro and Keith forged ahead, cutting a path through the underbrush with their prosthetic and combat knife, respectively, “C’mon, we’re falling behind.”

“Found the river!” Keith called over his shoulder, and Pidge reluctantly moved away from the carving in the stone. The river, when xi arrived with Hunk, looked just as wide and lazy from the bank as it had from the air. Unlike from the air, however, it was clear that it didn’t dip underwater after running into the cliff face. No, there was a clearly carved _tunnel_ through the stone, with pathways on either side consistently wide enough for them to comfortably walk single file.

“More of those weird carvings,” Lance pointed out under his breath as they followed the current downriver, directly towards the weird reading. Pidge followed his rough line of sight to the far side of the river, and nearly stopped in xir tracks. It looked like, well, it looked like a pair of cheoc-bot toys posed ‘fighting’ over a deflated ball, but something about it felt _familiar_.

“So much for no higher life forms,” Hunk muttered.

“Those carvings look pretty ancient to me,” Shiro said from the front of the line, “Odds are, whatever species made those is long gone.”

Pidge tilted xir head slightly, squinting at the carving, “The lab,” xi breathed, eyes widening as it finally clicked, “Sir, I think I can date these carvings!”

Shiro turned, and raised an eyebrow at xir, “How so?”

“That shape between the cheoc robots, its profile perfectly matches photographs of the RRI Lab.”

“You mean the squashed dumpling-looking thing?” Hunk frowned.

“Most research facilities share a similar architecture,” Shiro gave them a stern look.

“But ten thousand deca-phoebs ago, they didn’t,” Pidge insisted, every eye turning to xir, “The RRI was a building specially constructed _on Daibazaal_ to facilitate the late Queen Honerva’s research.”

_That_ shut them up, and Shiro’s eyes widened as a flurry of conflicting emotions flickered across his face. Shortly, though, he settled on something like pride, “Good work, Pidge. Now, let’s see if the source of the signature at the other end of this tunnel matches my hunch.”

The tunnel was mercifully short, and Pidge found xir breath stolen away as they spread out along the dirt bank. Xi had been born and raised on space stations, always itching to get xir claws on the newest pieces of tech. Old, broken down things had never held any interest except as a challenge to make them work again. But this, this vine-covered structure before them... it was nothing short of ancient, it had probably been here longer than every station xi’d ever lived on combined, and xi was _captivated_.

“Wow,” Keith breathed, and Pidge took half a step forwards before Shiro clapped a hand on xir shoulder. That half step was enough to do _something_ , though. A carved tile set in the ground lit up green, and Pidge froze even as Shiro breathed a word xi’d only ever heard in kits’ bedtime stories.

“Voltron.”

“Of course,” Lance murmured as another carving lit up, and another, forming a trail of markers leading towards, _up_ the crumbling ruin, “a Beast of Voltron,” he turned to Shiro, hand hovering over his short-range communicator, “Permission to call back to the ship with this information, Sir?”

“No,” Shiro said firmly, “We get eyes on it first. If we announce we’ve found the Green Beast and we’re wrong...” he trailed off, giving them all a pointed look. Pidge nodded resolutely.

“Understood,” Lance nodded as well.

“So, what’s our next course of action?” Keith asked, and Shiro looked at the trail of glowing icons.

“We follow the lights,” Shiro grinned, and Pidge followed on his heels as he approached the ruin. The sense of familiarity was only increasing as they approached and began to climb, and xi wracked xir brain for every story of Voltron xi’d ever heard or read. None of them that xi could remember mentioned the Green Beast except in passing, focusing instead on the glorious leadership of their Emperor or the vile betrayal of the Red Paladin who ordered Daibazaal’s destruction.

Once at the top, xi looked around for any sign of a way in. Nothing but ancient stone and equally ancient vines, some of which were so large xi wouldn’t be able to wrap xir arms around them if xi tried. Ancient vines which, at a second glance, hid what appeared to be a gaping chasm beneath, “What are we supposed to do up here?” Keith complained, “Shouldn’t there be a door at, idunno, ground level?”

“The lights led up this way,” Shiro frowned, “They wouldn’t do that without reason.”

Hunk suggested something, but Pidge couldn’t hear it. Something was pulling at xir, the sensation of familiarity, of _belonging_ , swelling within xir and blotting out everything else. It was there, just under the vines, “She’s waiting,” xi mumbled, walking out onto the vines past the edge of the stonework. The others’ voices rose sharply, calling xir name, and Pidge stepped off the vine to fall into the darkness.

The impact was, not as bad as xi’d expected, actually. Xi blinked, and all the breath left xir lungs as xi met a pair of golden eyes as large as fighter windshields with far too much intelligence behind them to be merely a ship’s AI. This was something different, something ancient and alive and bored.

“It was you,” Pidge said as a bead of green light drew xir eye to a ladder cut into the side of the great ship’s head, “You’ve been calling me since we landed,” the fact was obvious, in retrospect. For whatever reason, this ship had _wanted_ to be found by xir. Pidge grinned, and rolled to xir feet with ease, “No way in hell I’m letting Shiro take credit for finding you, when we bring you to Zarkon.”

The ship _reacted_ to that, and Pidge gasped as images flooded across xir mind.  A horizonless expanse of gold, a pair of corpses small against the red dirt, a familiar face twisted in a snarl that emanated _wrongness_.

“Oh,” Pidge breathed, frozen halfway down the ladder as a sick sense of comprehension dawned on xir. The Beast’s mouth opened, and xi hurried to the base of the ladder to grab onto a grip which stretched across the jaw joint. For once, xi was thankful for xir drill sergeant’s insistence on training on the climbing walls. Xi hurried over to the Beast’s open maw, and swung into it with ease. The all-encompassing sense of familiarity was back, the feeling that xi’d been here before, that xi knew this Beast somehow.

Xi clambered up the ladder inside, and didn’t hesitate to sit in the seat at the top. It snapped forward as soon as xi was seated, rushing xir into a cockpit full of glowing green screens. A pair of what felt like nothing more than arcade joysticks popped up in front of the arms of the chair, and Pidge grasped them without thinking. A sound xi couldn’t name passed through xir, and the Green Beast _leapt_. The vines parted in a shower of plant matter, and Green planted her feet on the edge of the now much more evident opening. Her head tilted, then lowered, and Pidge popped up from xir seat to run and greet xir squad.

The door at the back of Green’s cockpit opened, admitting the others, and then Pidge staggered as an image slammed into xir mind. Green, flying just left of point in a formation of five similarly shaped ships. The ships left trails of colour across the endless starry void as they split apart and began to change shape, and then- then they combined, forming a figure xi had only ever seen in kit’s books and old archives which were half forgotten, half forbidden.

Voltron.

“I think-” Shiro started, then cleared his throat, “Our course of action has changed,” he said, sounding slightly strained, “The five of us will return to the main ship in this Beast of Voltron, where-” the ship lurched, cutting him off, and Pidge grunted as xi was thrown into Hunk, both of them toppling to the ground.

“What’s happening?” Lance yelped as the viewscreen rapidly became less and less green.

“The autopilot turned on!” Keith bared his blunt teeth in frustration, “You leaned on the controls, didn’t you?”

“Why is everything my fault? If anyone leaned on the controls it was _you_ ,” Lance snapped back, the ridges along his head lifting ever so slightly.

“Quit bickering about whose fault it is and _turn the damn thing off_!” Shiro ordered, pulling Pidge to xir feet.

Keith and Lance shoved at each other, leaning over the arms of the chair to swat at different buttons in an attempt to make the damn Beast stop piloting herself. The unnamable sound pulsed through xir again, and Pidge took a step forward, then another, and another. Time to go home.

Every eye snapped to xir, and Pidge stepped past Keith to sit in the pilot’s seat.

“What are you doing?”  
“I was gonna sit there!”  
“You’re not a pilot.”  
“We’re gonna dieeee.”

“No, I- I’ve got this,” Pidge gripped the controls, and more images flashed before xir eyes. Weaving through treetrunks the size of ancient rocket fuselages, pouncing on massive monsters, a regal figure in white and green among others in similar armour.

“Are you sure?” Shiro asked, and xi pushed the controls forward to accelerate out of the atmosphere.

Glowing cracks eating away the planet’s core, the regal figure in green falling to purple-grey robots, a planet burning under fire from a hundred battleships. “Positive.”

\---

“Uh, Pidge?” Lance gripped the back of the pilot’s chair, eyes darting from his runty teammate to the view outside, “We’re coming in a little fast.”

“A little?” Keith scoffed.

“It’s xir first time flying, I’m trying to be supportive,” he snapped at the other alpha.

Keith opened his mouth to retort, but shut it at a glare from Shiro. Lance shrank away, and moved to stand by Hunk as Shiro reached over the back of the seat to grip Pidge’s shoulder, “Ease up on the controls,” he said calmly, and Lance swore the ship started going even faster. At least at this angle they’d just skim along the ship’s side, rather than crashing headfirst into it.

“They would hurt us.” Pidge said in that strange, unnatural voice as sparks began to fly. Lance’s eyes widened, and at Hunk’s signal he _moved_. Sure he’d only gotten here yesterday, and the only other member of his pack was on this weird green ship with him, but that didn’t mean he wanted the damn battleship blown up!

“Pidge, stop it!” Hunk shouted, grabbing one of xir wrists as Lance grabbed the other. Xir grip was too strong, though, disproportionately so for xir size.

“Let xir go!” Lance yelled up at the ceiling. Outside, he saw something explode.

“Step back,” Shiro ordered, and Lance moved to let the officer into the spot where he’d been standing, “Hunk, restrain Pidge against the seat,” his prosthetic hand ignited, a purple glow spreading up the metal limb as he raised it.

“Wait!” Keith shouldered past him, grabbing Shiro’s arm just above the elbow where the energized glow faded.

“Let go, Private,” Shiro snapped, narrowing his eyes.

“If you damage the steering, how are we going to get back to the ship?”

“I wasn’t aiming for the-” 

“I think it’s a moot point,” Hunk breathed, and Lance followed his packmate’s gaze to what looked for all the world like a blue hole in space.

“Please tell me I’m not the only one who doesn’t know what that is,” Lance said.

“Home.”

“Not helping,” Shiro snapped at Pidge, the glow fading from his arm. The strange, swirling blue surrounded them, and the beta runt shook xirself.

“What?”

“Let go of the controls,” Shiro all but growled, and the beta’s hands flew up into the air, palms out, “What did you do to the battleship?”

“We-”

“Hey, leave the rest of us out of this,” Keith snapped.

“Not you,” Pidge scoffed, “Me and Green.”

Shiro’s scowl vanished at that, replaced by a look like the face Hunk made when he got hit over the head in hand-to-hand training, “What?”

Pidge opened xir mouth, then shut it with a confused look, “I- don’t know. It’s like, a voice in my head, but made of pictures. She showed me things, and I think...” they trailed off, and Lance stepped up next to Shiro. Pidge wasn’t pack, or clade, but they were part of the same squad, so this was, probably acceptable? He gently rested his hand on xir head, and xi looked up at him with wide eyes.

“It’s okay,” he said, pulling up a grin, “This is a Beast of Voltron, right? Bringing it in will definitely be enough to clear you of blame for any damages it inflicted.”

“That’s just it,” Pidge looked down, at the flight controls which had pulled away and locked into what he could only assume was an autopilot mode, “I don’t think we _should_ turn her in.”

“You say that like the Emperor would _let_ you keep a Beast of Voltron,” Keith said flatly. Lance opened his mouth, but stopped himself from retorting at Shiro’s raised hand.

“Wherever this ship is taking us, we’ll decide on a course of action _after_ we get there,” their leader said firmly. Ticks later, the blue swirling non-space around them gave way to an unfamiliar set of constellations with a verdant planet front and center, “Pidge, is the Beast telling you anything about that planet?” Shiro inclined his head towards the viewscreen, and Pidge nodded.

“She wants us to land,” xi said, and Shiro nodded once.

“Then land,” he said firmly, “There may be other Voltron Beasts where it’s taking us.”

“Yes, sir,” Pidge nodded, taking the controls and guiding the ship down through the atmosphere. Lance shuffled back around the chair to stand next to Hunk, and grinned at his packmate. It was a long shot, but maybe there would be Beasts down there for both of them. If this runty beta could fly one, Lance had no doubt Hunk could as well.

\---

Hunk jumped as the ship behind them roared, opening the doors of the building in front of them. Inside it was dark, and spooky, and he clung to Lance’s arm as his packmate headed inside, “For the record, I don’t like this,” he said as he passed into the shade.

“Noted,” Shiro said, the word clipped as he lead them slowly into the first room of the building. Hunk’s first impression was that it was _big_ , a wide open sprawl of floor under a high ceiling. The complete lack of any living thing aside from their squad only made it seem bigger, and Hunk gripped Lance’s arm tight enough he would’ve worried about bruising his packmate if not for his armour.

He jumped when a light came on, scanning them from its vantage in the ceiling, and only relaxed minutely when the lights came up. Lance looked at him, he looked at Shiro, Shiro squared his shoulders and stepped forward. Hunk hesitated, but Lance made a low, reassuring half purr and he fell in behind Pidge while Lance took up a position behind Keith. The hallways illuminated ahead of them, leading the way deeper into the alien building, and Hunk did his best to remember how many turns and stairs they’d taken. This whole thing could still be a trap.

Admittedly, the room the self-illuminating halls lead them to didn’t _look_ like a trap. It just looked empty, a divot in the middle holding a control console of some kind ringed by circular patterns on the floor. Pidge made an excited little sound, and Shiro scanned the room before gesturing with one hand, “Split up and search the room, and stay alert.”

“Yes, Sir,” Hunk nodded, and after exchanging a look with Lance they split and started checking along the walls. Any seams were either nonexistent or incredibly well-hidden, and a few experimental raps as he walked his half of the perimeter assured him that the wall was solid. A clang from the middle of the room drew his attention, and he turned to see Keith tapping the hilt of a funny looking dagger against the edge of one of the circles.

“Wow, if you’re compensating for something you’re doing a bad job of it,” Lance snarked, and Hunk sighed. Assigned bunks be damned, he and Lance were sharing a bed tonight so he could get his packmate to spill what was making him so freaking aggro. It was probably nerves, but he wasn’t gonna assume.

“Oh, like you grabbing the fanciest gun they’d let you have isn’t compensation?” the smaller alpha fired back, and Hunk frowned. If Keith was pack, hell if he was _clade_ it’d be perfectly acceptable for Hunk to literally grab him and ask what his problem was.

“Stop it,” Shiro snapped, obviously just as fed up as Hunk was worried, “Reports,” he looked to Lance first, who shrugged.

“Nothing hidden in the walls, so far as I can tell,” he said casually, walking over towards the middle of the room.

“They’re either a single sheet of metal, or whoever made this had technology that far outstrips ours,” Hunk added when their leader’s gaze swung to him, also heading towards the center of the room.

“This is definitely a console, but I’m having trouble booting it up,” Pidge said, glancing down at the column with a frown, “I can’t be sure without taking it apart, but my GAC’s on emergency power not being routed to this terminal.”

“It’s routed to this, though,” Keith said, tapping his knife against the floor again to indicate what he’d uncovered. Next to the circle, a little green light glowed in the floor, “These circles are lids for something that’s getting power.”

“And those black panels up there are inactive video screens,” Shiro inclined his head towards the panels in question, which were only barely distinguishable as separate panels. Oh, Hunk would love to talk to whoever had built this place, “So, best guesses as t-” he stopped short as the circle Keith had been tapping on rose from the floor to reveal it was hollow, with a strip of some translucent blue material showing its interior.

The interior itself wasn’t particularly interesting, but what the pod contained certainly was. Or, he supposed it would be _who_ the pod contained. Lance whistled appreciatively, and Hunk rolled his eyes. Well, at least his packmate’s flirting was less obnoxious than his aggression towards Keith. A tick later the translucent panel vanished and the alien inside lurched forward, eyes flying open as one of her arms came up.

She shouted something, desperate but not in any language Hunk’s translator was programmed with, and collapsed forwards into Lance’s arms. His cheeks darkened, and a familiar cocky smile slipped across his face, “Hello,” he purred, and the alien’s eyes widened for a split tick before her face contorted and the most fearsome snarl Hunk had ever heard ripped its way out of her throat.

The alien acted before any of them could move, taking one of Lance’s arms and holding it by the elbow as she knocked his feet out from under him. Lance cried out as he hit the floor, then the alien yanked on his arm and his scream almost hid the sound of his shoulder dislocating. The alien’s foot moved to his neck, then, and Hunk stopped thinking. Lance was his packmate, the only one he had left. He wasn’t going to lose him too, especially not on their first damn mission.

He roared and charged at the alien, teeth bared. She ducked his initial lunge, and his boots skidded on the floor as he spun to face her again, “Let go of hi-” an arm wrapped around his throat, abruptly cutting off his air and his threat with it. He scrabbled at the assailant’s grip for a tick before remembering his training. Planting his feet, he grabbed his attacker by the elbows and whipped his upper body forwards, pulling them off the floor. A continuation of the motion with his arms flung them over his head, and when he straightened up he saw a pale alien in a blue uniform sprawled out over the one who’d attacked Lance.

Lance, who was pushing himself up and trying to growl despite the way his arm was hanging limp at his side. By the time Hunk fell to one knee and pulled Lance against his chest, his packmate’s gun was trained on the uniformed alien and Shiro’s glowing prosthetic was at the first one’s neck alongside Keith’s strange knife. For a split tick he hoped one of them was going to twitch wrong, that the alien’s throat would be slit and they’d sprawl out on the floor choking in their own blood. Then he shook his head minutely, and refocused on glaring with as much menace as he could muster. He didn’t bother muffling the growl that rumbled out of his chest, though. The darker alien growled back, in an impressive register for one of her size, and Hunk bared his teeth at her.

“Guys, stop it!” Pidge yanked Keith’s knife away from the alien’s throat, placing xirself between her and the rest of the team with xir arms spread defensively.

“Pidge, unless you have a _damn_ good reason-”

“This is Green’s home,” xi said quickly, and Hunk noticed the aliens perk up at that, “The last time she was in this ship, thousands of deca-phoebs ago on a planet that no longer exists, there were _galra_ forces razing it to dust.”

Lance’s gun dipped, unsteady growl dying in his throat. A tick later, Hunk fell silent as well as the full implications of that hit him. These aliens only knew the Empire as an enemy; the armour he’d been raised to trust was something they were taught to fear.

“Who is this Green you speak of?” the darker alien asked, her voice cold and her cadence unusually formal.

“The Green Beast of Voltron,” Pidge answered, turning to face the alien, “but you already knew that, didn’t you Princess?”

\---

Had she been standing, Allura would’ve taken a step back at those words. She’d said all of seven words in Galran, none of which betrayed her status. So how did- her heart skipped a beat, blood running cold as the reality of the situation dawned on her. Assuming that the galra runt wasn’t lying to xir teammates about how long it had been since the war, then there was no reason for any of them to know her face. Unless, of course... “Why would Green choose you?” she asked in her best Galran, keeping her voice cold as ice.

“I don’t know,” the runt replied, “But she did, and she showed me things. Things that make way too much sense to write off, even though they go against everything I’ve ever been taught,” Allura noted the hand lowering from its spot by her neck but didn’t move from the floor as the runt’s tone shifted towards pleading, “From what Green showed me, you have every reason not to trust us, and I can’t give you anything but my word, but please. Please, just trust that we do not wear this armour because we agree with Emperor Zarkon’s reign.”

“Zarkon?” Allura couldn’t help but gasp, and when she rose unsteadily to her feet Coran was there to catch her by the elbow, “He’s still alive?”

“And ruler of the known universe,” one of the other galra added, sounding almost bitter about it.

“Impossible,” she breathed, and Coran squeezed her elbow gently.

“Princess, the Emperor has placed great value on the Beasts of Voltron. So much so that finding just one is enough to guarantee a whole squad’s promotion,” the galra with the officer’s armour and matching red prosthetic said smoothly, “But if there’s any truth to Pidge’s words, or to the old legends... well, I doubt the Emperor is the type of person who should wield power on that scale.”

“Shiro, what are you saying?” the galra who’d caught her when she fell from her pod gasped.  
“That’s treason!” the one who’d tried to tackle her cried at the same time, “We’ll be lucky if finding the Green Beast will keep us from getting in trouble for Pidge trashing the ship’s long-distance comms, let alone-”

“Princess,” Coran said softly, pulling her attention from the galra with a hand on her elbow, “I’ve confirmed that the green ship of Voltron is sitting just outside the castle, and there are no galra vessels within scanning range. The little one seems to be telling the truth.”

“But why would one of the ships of Voltron choose a _galra_ Paladin?” she hissed, yanking her arm free.

“For the same reason the castle allowed the five of them entry, despite their armour and weapons being registered as enemy equipment,” he said, his expression solemn, “Because their quintessence mirrors that of Voltron’s components.”

Not even a lifetime of court etiquette lessons were enough to let Allura keep a straight face at that. Coran’s expression turned to a stern frown, and she schooled her own into the impassive mask she’d always worn when shadowing Father to diplomatic meetings.

“I’m not happy about this either, Princess, but have we really any other choice?” he asked rhetorically, “If Zarkon is still alive, and seeking Voltron, then to turn away new Paladins would be worse than suicidal, regardless of their species.”

“Your father,” The smallest galra said, and Allura was gratified to see Coran startle as badly as she did when the unfamiliar voice’s words came out in Altean, “He was the one who sent the Beasts away to hide, wasn’t he?”

“Yes,” Allura responded after a few ticks, folding her hands in front of herself. Until the ships which comprised Voltron could locate more suitable Paladins, these galra would have to do, “I did not agree with his decision then, I wished to stand and defend my homeworld.”

The galra who’d caught her when she fell out of the pod muttered something about Daibazaal, which she elected to ignore. The one who’d held a knife to her throat cuffed the first on the back of the head, and both fell still at a low growl from their leader.

“Now that you five are here, if you are willing to turn on your Empire, we can begin to right the wrongs of the past...” she pulled up a screen to check the date, and winced slightly, “Ten thousand deca-phoebs.”

The galra looked at each other, conversing in low Galran Standard, and the largest one grimaced as they turned to face her again but the smallest was smiling smugly. Their leader stepped forwards, and lifted their prosthetic hand for her to shake, “We’re in.”

She gave the weapon a wary look, and the galra quickly changed which hand they were offering with an awkward chuckle, “Sorry, still getting used to the new arm.”

“Let’s hope you get used to it quickly,” she took his hand in a firm grip and shook it once. This was only temporary. Once they found true Paladins for Voltron, she wouldn’t have to see these galra ever again.

\---

Not for the first time since the blue portals opened up in the sky, Keith wished he’d tucked his personal comm in his belt pouch before reporting for duty this morning. He’d _love_ to call home and let the alien princess get a taste of her own medicine. Or maybe just prove to her that the Empire’s interests didn’t represent the interests of all galra, especially the interests of mixed galra like... actually, now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure any of them were pure.

Lance had those weird thin bobbly things that sprouted from the base of his forward cranial plate, Hunk’s ears and the growths hanging from them looked just plain _weird_ , Pidge was a textbook kythrian mix, and Shiro... Keith looked down at his knife, which he’d drawn to clean as a way to pass the time. Shiro was almost definitely the same type of mix as Ulaz. His markings were mostly hidden by his haircut, but only mostly. For a dobosh, he entertained the idea that Shiro and Ulaz might know each other. Shiro had been a gladiator on the ship where Ulaz was currently undercover, after all. Gladiators favoured enough to get recruited got decent medical attention.

“Interesting knife you have there,” The moustachioed alien said from behind him, and Keith only barely stifled a yelp as he shot to his feet, whirling on the ball of one to bring his blade to bear. The pale-faced male laughed, and gently pushed his dagger to point at the wall, “Careful, wouldn’t want to hurt anybody with that.”

“Don’t startle me,” Keith huffed, sitting back down and picking the cleaning cloth back up off the floor.

“Noted,” the alien sat down a polite distance away, “You know, I don’t believe I’ve introduced myself yet.”

Keith made a noncommittal noise.

“I’m Coran,” Coran said with a grin, giving one end of his moustache a twirl, “And you?”

“Keith,” he said simply.

“If I may, where did you get that knife? It really is a beautiful weapon.”

Keith’s mouth pulled up into a small, sad, involuntary grin as he gave it one last wipe down with the cleaning cloth, “It was a gift, from one of my caretakers,” he said softly, “Xi said it belonged to my mother.”

“Oh.”

The silence was just on the verge of becoming truly awkward when something behind him beeped, and Coran sprang to his feet, “Ah, looks like they found the Blue ship!” he exclaimed, and Keith looked up at the viewscreens to see a great blue cheoc-looking ship flying down with a much smaller white shuttle gliding next to it. Shiro and Lance walked onto the bridge a few doboshes later, and Keith raised an eyebrow to see Lance literally dripping wet, “Decided to take a bath while you were out?”

“Blue was underwater,” Lance answered with a grin, not even seeming to notice Keith’s jab, “You should’ve _seen_ the sealife on her planet, it was like nothing I’ve ever heard of!”

“Pidge and Hunk aren’t back yet?” Shiro asked, and Lance froze with his mouth half open as Allura shook her head.

“There’s still time though, right?” he asked, all traces of elation gone, “They’re not trapped?”

“Not yet, but their portal only has a few doboshes left.”

Keith could almost see the blood leave Lance’s face at the Princess’s answer, and he honestly couldn’t blame the guy. If he lost even half his pack, let alone all but one, he wouldn’t want to be separated from the remainder for a deca-phoeb at least. The shuttle with the rest of Lance and Hunk’s pack had gone down when they were on their way to basic training, just three phoebs ago.

“Don’t worry about them,” Coran said, slinging an arm casually around Lance’s shoulders, “Your teammate is probably bonding with the Yellow ship as we speak.”

“Hunk,” Lance frowned, rounding on Coran, “His name is Hunk, and he’s my pack,” his hands curled into clearly anxious fists, and Keith sheathed his dagger under his backplate before standing and getting between the two.

“Coran may be an idiot, but he’s right,” he said, diverting Lance’s attention to himself, “There’s still a few doboshes, they’ll be back by then.”

“How do you know that?” Lance snapped, “You haven’t known any of us for even a whole quintant.”

“And yet, I have more faith in your packmate than you do,” Keith crossed his arms, and Lance growled at him. 

“Enough,” Shiro snapped, and Keith briefly felt bad for pushing the older alpha to the end of his patience. Only briefly, though. Riling up Lance was almost as much fun as riling up his packmates back home, and only almost because Regris wasn’t at his side joining in, “Lance, if they don’t come back we’re not going to leave them there. Keith, quit aggravating him or you’re going to find out what it’s like to scrub ten thousand deca-phoebs of filth out of an alien latrine.”

“Yes, sir,” he said quickly.

The doors behind Lance and Shiro opened a tick later, and Lance spun on his heel right as Hunk and Pidge walked in groaning, “Hunk!” he cried, and all but threw himself into his packmate’s arms, “Are you alright?”

“More or less,” the big alpha groaned, pressing his face into Lance’s cranial plates, “I almost hurled, like, three times out there.”

“Your intel is _way_ out of date,” Pidge huffed.

“Regardless, we all got back here safely with our assigned Beasts,” Shiro said sharply. Pidge grumbled a bit more under xir breath, but didn’t argue, “That leaves just the Red Beast. Have you located that one yet?”

“Ah, bit of good news and bad news on that front,” Coran said, and Keith’s stomach sank, “The good news is, the Red ship is nearby. The bad news is, it's on board that galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!”

Keith gritted his teeth, and resisted the urge to grab for his dagger. He’d read enough of Ulaz’s reports to dislike Commander Sendak without ever having needed to meet the bastard in person. Just thinking about someone like that having the Red Beast of Voltron... it set him on edge in a way he couldn’t properly define. He could hardly wait to get up there and steal it from under the asshole’s nose.

\---

Keith skidded to a stop, throwing himself back against the wall as a pair of sentries marched by. Damn, this would’ve been so much easier if he was still in his Imperial armour. Tough as it was, this altean stuff made him stick out like a sore thumb. There was still half a damn ship between him and the main cargo hangar, which was the only place on a ship this size even remotely big enough to hold a Beast of Voltron, and he didn’t want to hide the whole way there. He’d rather not fight, either. Direct confrontation with these odds was a quick way to wind up dead.

He ducked back out into the hall to continue on his way, one ear on his half-muted comms, and ran headfirst into an unarmoured chest. He had his dagger out before he’d even consciously registered that an unarmoured person on Sendak’s ship was likely a druid or druid-apprentice, but when he reflexively lashed out his blow was deflected with ease.

“Keith?” Ulaz frowned, lowering his own luxite dagger as Keith stopped pressing with his, “Why are you here? What-” he blinked, then his face scrunched in even more confusion, “What in the name of the stars are you _wearing_?”

“Long story,” Keith sighed, then stiffened as a terrible thought struck him. Once they got the Red Beast, Sendak would come after them. He’d attack the castle, and they would be forced to bring this ship down to stop him.

“Give me the short version,” Ulaz said, pulling him to the side of the hall.

“We found Voltron,” he said quickly, and the older Blade’s eyes went almost comically wide, “Sendak will try to take it from us, so you need to get off this ship _now_.”

“And you told nobody of this why?”

“My comm is back in my bunk on a ship one of my new teammates trashed,” he shrugged, and Ulaz sighed.

“I’ll grab my things, and inform Kolivan of your new... occupation on my way to the Thaldycon system,” Ulaz’s mouth quirked up briefly in a smirk, and he rested a hand on top of Keith’s helmet, “Be safe, get in touch when you can.”

“I will,” Keith grinned, pushing his head up against Ulaz’s palm. He wished they had time to reunite, but there was a Red Beast in the cargo bay with his name on it. He waited five ticks after Ulaz left, then another five for a pair of patrolling sentries to pass before moving. Time to go free a Beast of Voltron from Imperial clutches.


End file.
